Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Better be worth it, McKenzie
“Iwant to experience all the things I missed.”
I would never regret having Piper.
NEVER.
Even when I graduated high school, and people were out partying and going on adventures. I loved her and loved being around her. But no matter how strong that love was, the reality was… I did miss things. I chose to miss them, and now I had a chance to make up for that.
And I had been in small ways. I wasn’t aiming to be the center of attention with a lot of friends or party. I just wanted to figure out who I wanted to be once I got home.
Maybe that version of Temperance had a fling at Magic School.
“And what did you miss?” His fingers caressed my arms, and my grip tightened on the railing.
Vacations without a child. Staying out dancing all night. Not sharing your snacks. All things I could have said, but none of which came out of my mouth.
“I never had sex in a gazebo.”
“An easy request,” he rumbled, and I bit back a moan.
For one night, I could let the resident billionaire show me a good time.
“Better be worth it, McKenzie,” I teased.
Insecurity blossomed in my gut. His hands delicately followed the path of my arms up to my shoulders. His hard stomach pressed against my back. My throat bobbed. My stomach fizzed again then dropped.
I should have tried to get laid in the past decade. I stood before a man who could eat women with his breakfast every morning if he wanted. I didn’t have experience handling someone like him.
His breath touched my neck, and shivers broke out across my body.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Temperance.”
Could we get that in writing?
“Why me?”
My lips trembled from the sheer pleasure of his lips and tongue on that spot beneath my ear.
“I’m attracted to you.”
Such a simple answer, and yet my brain refused to relax. People who found each other hot fucked all the time. There didn’t need to be anything more.
“That’s it?” I hated my brain and mouth at that moment.
He chuckled against my skin as his hand peeled mine off the railing to place it up and into his soft, perfect hair. I ran my fingernails over his scalp, down to his neck, and then pulled his head closer to me. My body knew what to do even if my brain complicated each thought.
My hips flexed into the hardness behind me as his strong hand wrapped around my rib cage. A thumb grazed the underside of my breast.
“You need me to talk, Temperance? Tell you that your body distracts me from everything around me?” he breathed, and my magic tensed in my gut. Curling, twisting, readying to explode.
“You fight your obvious attraction to me,” he continued. “And that intrigues me more.”
My fingers tensed in his hair, which earned me a flex of his hips, leaving no room between him and the railing.
“I…”
“You want to hear that I’ve thought of you in this dress during every single class today?”
I wasn’t sure I could take much more of this. My fingers tightened, tingles shooting from their tips up through my body and down to my toes.
“I imagined how easy it would be to slip my hand between your thighs. I’d watch you fight the urge to moan as I made you come under your desk during the lecture.”
Oh, cheese and crackers everywhere.
I was so out of my league with this man. I swore his words and hands alone might be enough to draw a release from me.
“Is that what you need, Temperance?”
“I...” I moaned, trying to find the words to plead for more. His hand moved down my belly toward the dress slit on my thigh. It would be so easy for him to touch me. One single slide of the material, and my panties and he’d feel exactly what he did to me.
“You think I drive you wild, Temperance, but you have no idea what you do to me. Each smile, each breath, and move you make interests me.”
My head fell against his shoulder as he continued to ravish my neck with his lips and hand inching toward my core. One, two swipes of his fingers against my panties, and we moaned.
Oh God, it was too easy. Too long since I…
“AHHHH!!!!”
The gazebo disappeared beneath our feet, and we tumbled into the water.
After flailing around, Rylan and I stood in thigh deep water, completely soaked with wide eyes.
“What the hell!” I cursed, and the man who almost made me come laughed. “This isn’t funny.”
“It is a little funny.” He laughed some more then took a sloshy step toward me.
“One of us made it disappear,” I hissed in horror. “This is so embarrassing.”
My cheeks reddened, and I wanted to leave. How was I ever supposed to have sex again if my magic could cause the bed to disappear mid-thrust? Or worse!
“Magic is ruled by our emotions. It happens.” His hand reached for mine and instinct had me pulling away. “Temperance.”
“I want to get inside before that lake monster eats us,” I muttered grumpily.
With the patience of a saint, he calmly said, “Okay, I’ll walk you.”
He tried to clasp my hand, and this time I let him.
As we walked out of the water together, I thought about how I wanted to take a shower, curl up on my bed, and watch TV. Then I remembered one important detail.
“Shit. My roommate is banging someone. I can’t go back for another hour, or I’ll see things I probably don’t want to.”
My wet dress weighed me down, and my shoes slopped with each step on the ground.
“You can use my room,” he offered. I gave him my best side eye. He laughed, but gave me a serious stare as he continued, “As much as I’d love to finish what we started. I promise to let you use my room, sans orgasms unless you request otherwise.”
He crossed his heart with his free fingers like a schoolboy promising to behave.
“Fine.”
I let him lead me to his room, which I was surprised to find wasn’t in any of the dorm wings of the castle. His room was through a tangle of halls on the first floor.
“Very secretive,” I commented after taking a few confusing turns past what looked like conference rooms to a solid wood door.
“Mr. McKenzie,” a suit of armor standing to the right of the door spoke, and Rylan greeted him kindly before unlocking the door with a physical key.
“As much as I am a student like everyone here, I can’t live in the dorms. It’s just not safe.”
He pushed open the door and gestured for me to enter first.
“Must be hard,” I murmured, wondering what it felt like to continuously be under scrutiny, and in some cases, attack.
I stepped into the room, our hands finally releasing as he closed up behind me.
“Getting to where I am is never easy. There are downsides to every decision I make.”
I knew those words for a fact. Sometimes I felt like everyone was playing a game of mental triage—looking at two decisions and deciding which one sucked less.
“Okay, so you’re like everyone else. But this room… mine definitely doesn’t look like this.” I laughed, moving from the heavy topic to something easier.
He had a suite all to himself with a sofa facing a flat screen, a full kitchen, and king-sized bedroom furniture. “Well, I did create this school. I should get a few extra perks.”
He winked and walked into a room I assumed was the bathroom. My thoughts were confirmed seconds later when I heard a faucet turning then the familiar sounds of shower spray.
“I know I’m asking a lot, but do you think I can borrow some clothes? I’ll give them back.”
I continued looking around, noting the details of his large suite.
“Hey Russel,” I said when I noticed the crow staring at me from a fake tree in the corner near the bed. Rylan had given his crow a whole corner of the room and made it look like a mini forest.
How cute.
“Of course. Now, let’s get you cleaned up,” he called from the bathroom doorway.
My breath stuck in my throat when I glanced his way. “I think you dropped something in there.”